Is Your Will Up To Date? The Essential Checklist (Infographic)
Today I’m bringing you an infographic created by I Will, a firm of solicitors who specialize in will writing.
I thought this summed up neatly the importance of keeping your will up to date as your life circumstances change, so I wanted to share it with readers of this blog. It’s quite a long graphic, so please take a little time to scroll down it, and I’ll see you at the other end!
Thanks again to I Will Solicitors (not an affiliate link) for permission to use their graphic. There are some valuable tips in it, not least the advice to review your will every five years or sooner in the event there are major changes in your life.
As I have said before in Pounds and Sense, I highly recommend using a properly qualified solicitor when writing or updating your will. I have had a couple of experiences when failing to do this has caused problems..
One concerned the will of my late partner. We had created mirror wills some years before, using a well-known postal will-writing service. At their suggestion we named the will-writing company as joint executors, as their representative said this meant they would be able to step in and help if required. Sadly my partner passed away and I then discovered that having the company as a named executor meant I couldn’t have the local solicitor I wanted handle the estate on my behalf. It took several months (and a lot of hassle I could really have done without) to get them to renounce their interest in the will so that my preferred legal firm could take over.
Another instance concerned a family member who passed away a couple of years ago. I don’t want to go into detail about this, for obvious reasons, but he had used a family friend who ran a will-writing service to create his will. The will was poorly drafted and did not make clear exactly how the estate should be divided up. It didn’t help either that there were multiple updates of the will, some of which were of doubtful validity. The result was a bitter dispute between two of the main beneficiaries, which ended with an outcome that was probably far from what he had intended.
So my top tips with wills would be (a) make sure you have one, (b) have it drawn up by a qualified solicitor, (c) give careful thought to whom you name as executor, and (d) review it regularly and update if needed. For other advice, please refer to the infographic above!
- Just a reminder also that, as mentioned in my last post, October is Free Wills Month in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Under this scheme you may be able to have your will drawn up or updated free of charge with participating solicitors. Please see my blog post for more information about this.
If you have any comments or questions, as ever, please do post them below.